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Test Setup, Benchmarks, And Methodology

The SSD DC S3500 Review: Intel's 6 Gb/s Controller And 20 nm NAND
By
Test Hardware
ProcessorIntel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E), 32 nm, 3.3 GHz, LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost Enabled
Motherboard
Intel DX79SI, X79 Express
Memory
G.Skill Ripjaws Z-Series (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600 @ DDR3-1600, 1.5 V
System Drive
Intel SSD 320 160 GB SATA 3Gb/s
Tested Drives
Intel SSD DC S3500, 480 GB
Graphics
AMD FirePro V4800 1 GB
Power Supply
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700 W
System Software and Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 x64 Ultimate
DirectXDirectX 11
DriverGraphics: ATI 8.883
Benchmark Suite
Iometer v1.1.0
4 Workers, 4 KB Random: LBA=Full, Span Varying Queue Depths 
ATTO
v2.4.7, 2 GB, QD=4
Custom
C++, 8 MB Sequential, QD=4
Enterprise Testing: Iometer Workloads
Read
Write
512 Bytes
1 KB
2 KB
4 KB
8 KB
16 KB
32 KB
64 KB
128 KB
512 KB
Database
67%
100%
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
100%
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
File Server
80%
100%
10%
5%
5%
60%
2%
4%
4%
10%
n/a
n/a
Web Server
100%
100%
22%
15%
8%
23%
15%
2%
6%
7%
1%
1%

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), a working group made up of SSD, flash, and controller vendors, has a testing procedure that attempts to control as many of the variables inherent to SSDs as possible. SNIA’s Solid State Storage Performance Test Specification (SSS PTS) is a great resource for enterprise SSD testing. The procedure does not define what tests should be run, but rather the way in which they are run. This workflow is broken down into four parts:

  1. Purge: Purging puts the drive at a known starting point. For SSDs, this normally means Secure Erase.
  2. Workload-Independent Preconditioning: A prescribed workload that is unrelated to the test workload.
  3. Workload-Based Preconditioning: The actual test workload (4 KB random, 128 KB sequential, and so on), which pushes the drive towards a steady state.
  4. Steady State: The point at which the drive’s performance is no longer changing for the variable being tracked.

These steps are critical when testing SSDs. It’s incredibly easy to not fully condition the drive and still observe out-of-box behavior, which may lead one to think that it’s steady-state. These steps are also important when going between random and sequential writes.

For all performance tests in this review, the SSS PTS was followed to ensure accurate and repeatable results.

All tests employ random data, when available. Intel's SSD DC S3500 does not perform any data compression prior to writing, so there is no difference in performance-based data patterns.

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  • 2 Hide
    Mastle , June 11, 2013 8:29 AM
    Hi, Think there's an error on page 1, $579 for 80GB drive......Surely won't be getting it at that price for my home build!
  • -1 Hide
    drewriley , June 11, 2013 8:52 AM
    -Mastle - You are correct, that should read $579 for the 480GB version.
  • 0 Hide
    busuan , June 11, 2013 10:41 AM
    Found myself suddenly losing interests in SATA SSDs after seeing the specs of PCIe SSD in the latest MBA refresh.
  • 2 Hide
    PapaCrazy , June 11, 2013 1:05 PM
    An Intel 320 series SSD I put in my dad's computer just encountered the 8mb bug even though the firmware was updated with the "fixed" version. He uses the computer for business and I got him an Intel SSD thinking it'd be reliable. I think I'm gonna try Samsung next time around.
  • 1 Hide
    Evolution2001 , June 11, 2013 1:09 PM
    Nitpicking here... but the article text is still wrong...or the math is. :p 
    ''...we do know that the 800 GB model we're reviewing should run around $579. At ~$1.20/GB, ...''

    800GB @ $1.20 = $960.
  • -1 Hide
    drewriley , June 11, 2013 2:00 PM
    Quote:
    Nitpicking here... but the article text is still wrong...or the math is. :p 
    ''...we do know that the 800 GB model we're reviewing should run around $579. At ~$1.20/GB, ...''

    800GB @ $1.20 = $960.


    Thanks, just can't seem to get the right combination of 4, 8 and 0. The 480GB version is $579
  • 3 Hide
    drewriley , June 11, 2013 2:06 PM
    Quote:
    An Intel 320 series SSD I put in my dad's computer just encountered the 8mb bug even though the firmware was updated with the "fixed" version. He uses the computer for business and I got him an Intel SSD thinking it'd be reliable. I think I'm gonna try Samsung next time around.


    With the BAD_CTX_13X (8MB) failure, the fixed firmware fixed 'most' of them. The failure rates are quite low, especially after the FW 'fix', but if that one failure happens on the only drive you bought, it can really suck. As a consumer, I could care less if a million other people got a good SSD, if mine fails, I am upset. As an enterprise buyer, if one fails out a million, my company is throwing a party!


  • 0 Hide
    flong777 , June 12, 2013 1:41 AM
    Why does Intel continue to release mediocre SSDs? Granted this performs middle of the pack but I just don't understand why a company with Intel's resources doesn't put out a top performer like the 840 Pro.
  • 0 Hide
    leonfeldman89 , June 12, 2013 9:31 AM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    An Intel 320 series SSD I put in my dad's computer just encountered the 8mb bug even though the firmware was updated with the "fixed" version. He uses the computer for business and I got him an Intel SSD thinking it'd be reliable. I think I'm gonna try Samsung next time around.


    With the BAD_CTX_13X (8MB) failure, the fixed firmware fixed 'most' of them. The failure rates are quite low, especially after the FW 'fix', but if that one failure happens on the only drive you bought, it can really suck. As a consumer, I could care less if a million other people got a good SSD, if mine fails, I am upset. As an enterprise buyer, if one fails out a million, my company is throwing a party!




    I'm sorry Drew, but that's flat out wrong.
    BAD_CTX_00000013X is lierally just a single error code that is related to the 8MB bricking issues of the 320.
    Intel didn't fix "most" of anything. There are many other instances of the BAD_CTX and NO_CONTEXT errors.
    Intel literally fixed only the most common version of the BAD_CTX bug and did NOTHING about the underlying issue plagueing the 320.

    Frankly, there's not much more they could have done than because the 320 was a bad design based on porting the X-25 controller and slapping on 32nm memory that it wasn't robust enough to handle.

    It looks like Intel has done the same thing here by slapping 20nm NAND onto the 3700 and renaming it.

    Maybe they think adding "Data Center" to it's name will somehow cause it to brick less?

    Anyway, continuing to endorse the 320 as a reliable drive is just bad journalism. It's certainly not the worst out there, but the 320 is still significantly over-represented in failure rates vs micron/crucial and samsung.
  • 0 Hide
    Grizely1 , June 12, 2013 3:35 PM
    Quote:
    Why does Intel continue to release mediocre SSDs? Granted this performs middle of the pack but I just don't understand why a company with Intel's resources doesn't put out a top performer like the 840 Pro.


    Go back and read the article.

    Or, learn the difference between consumer vs commercial. It's a DT (Data Center).
  • 0 Hide
    flong777 , June 16, 2013 4:06 AM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Why does Intel continue to release mediocre SSDs? Granted this performs middle of the pack but I just don't understand why a company with Intel's resources doesn't put out a top performer like the 840 Pro.


    Go back and read the article.

    Or, learn the difference between consumer vs commercial. It's a DT (Data Center).


    Fair enough, I guess I should have been more clear. I don't understand why Intel is involved with so many mediocre SSDs - whether enterprise or consumer.
    While I am not an enterprise user, I think I understand the basics. Enterprise SSDs are geared to handle heavy cues and write loads.

    You have a point that it is not fair to compare enterprise with consumer - they are two different animals.
  • 0 Hide
    DaveSuth , October 28, 2013 11:49 AM
    How does the Seagate Pro 600 compare to the Intel DC 3700?
  • 0 Hide
    echolane , November 29, 2013 4:41 PM
    This review pretty much condemns Intel's S3500 drive for write intensive environments. Windows 7 is considered a write-intensive OS. Does that mean the Intel SSD S3500 would be an unsuitable choice for a boot drive?

    It would be really helpful to have a review focused on answering the question of which SSD is most suitable for a Windows 7 boot drive.